The advantages of good dental hygiene are well known. Often, however, people either forget their toothbrushes when traveling or do not carry their toothbrushes outside of the home. Hotels, health care facilities, nursing homes, hospitals, daycare facilities, schools, airlines, etc. have a need for single use disposable or limited multiple use toothbrushes that may be economically supplied to and discarded by individuals without a toothbrush, a dentifrice and/or a water supply. Such toothbrushes could be used in vending machines or distributed in large quantities for simple, portable use at any location.
Various types of disposable, limited use or portable toothbrushes are known in the art. For example, some toothbrush systems have attempted to meet some of these needs by providing an oral care material within the toothbrush itself, through an integrated channel, for distribution through the toothbrush and around the bristles. Another approach is the development of an oral care implement having a moisture degradable capsule having an oral care material secured thereto during manufacturing.
It has recently been determined that packaging costs for portable oral care implements are unnecessarily high. One reason for this high cost is because portable oral care implements of the type described above must be maintained in a sealed environment during product manufacturing, packaging, shipping and display in order to maintain the integrity of the oral care material.
Thus, a need exists for a package and/or kit that can provide an economic solution to the packaging difficulties and costs discussed above, while still providing a suitable portable, waterless and/or disposable oral care implement.